When Professor Nicholas Negroponte first embarked on his One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project, he was met with scepticism and in some cases, outright doubt. Michael Dell, founder and CEO of the world’s number two computer maker named after himself, said the idea of a US$100 laptop computer was “impossible”, while Bill Gates, Microsoft’s founder and chairman told him to “get a real computer”.
Fast forward four years later. What started out as little more than a concept, has now developed into fully functioning computers, gainfully placed in the hands of nearly one million children in 31 developing countries, including Afghanistan, Haiti, Rwanda, Lebanon and Mongolia. Reflecting the diversity of its users, the XO laptop, as this OLPC-designed device is called, is available in 19 languages. Its success was said to have inspired the popularity of the netbook, which has risen from a novelty 18 months ago to garnering 30% market share of the global laptop market today.
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